“The oil and gas, construction and retail trade sectors showed continued
weakness, resulting in a sharp decrease in sales tax collections in June,” Combs
said. “Contributing to the decrease was not only the weakness
in these three sectors, but also the strong level of collections received
from them in June 2008.”

Combs sent July sales tax allocations totaling $426.7 million to cities,
counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts, down 8.8
percent compared to July 2008.

Combs sent July sales tax allocations of $284.3 million to Texas cities,
down 8.8 percent compared to July 2008. So far this calendar year,
city sales tax allocations are down 1.6 percent compared to the same time
period last year. Texas counties received sales tax payments of $26
million, down 10 percent compared to last July. So far this year, sales
tax allocations to counties are up 0.9 percent compared to this point in
2008.

Combs sent $16.6 million to 151 special purpose taxing districts, down
5.5 percent compared to last July. Ten local transit systems received
$99.6 million in sales tax allocations, down 8.9 percent compared to a
year ago.

State sales tax collections in June and local sales tax allocations in
July represent sales that occurred in May.